Eric Hartwell's InfoDabble

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Punching the Clock: Hacking an alarm clock to snooze when hit [via Street Tech 5/3/2005] This is a fun hardware hack: a cheapo alarm clock outfitted with an accelerometer so that it will go into snooze mode when you smack it, whack it, punch it, toss it off your nightstand, etc. This application note for the low-cost DE-ACCM[pdf] accelerometer board shows how to reverse engineer an off-the-shelf appliance and modify it so it's much more fun and useful. Dimension Engineering was formed in 2004 by two Carnegie Mellon graduates to sell easy-to-use electronic products to the hobbyist, educational and research markets.

Lobbyists in uproar as Florida Legislature considers banning felons from lobbying. [St. Petersburg Times 5/3/2005 via Fark] Lobbyists were in an uproar Monday over a proposal to ban felons from lobbying the Florida Legislature. It was a last-minute amendment to a bill which would require lobbyists to report the dollars they spend wining and dining lawmakers. The Senate President said he was unaware that any lobbyists had felony records until telephone calls and notes started pouring in. Senator Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, suggested the felony amendment be named in honor of the defibrillators required on the fourth-floor, where lobbyists hang out.